Single Blues..Let’s Beat ‘Em!

Wahoooo! It’s finally almost here : ) 25 days till Christmas! I am extremely excited! Holidays mean I get to puppy sit :) A LOT! This year is especially exciting as I’ve added some new clients to my list.

Lots of rescue dogs whose parents are anti-kennel-ing while their gone. I am a HUGE fan of adopting animals. We have 3 rescue critters at my house :)

But along with the holidays comes my annual battle of the holiday blues. You can only hangout with married couples your age before the “I’m single and I’m realizing it” moments kick in. This year I decided I was going to come up with a game plan to combat the blues :)

The Plan:

1 – Don’t do anything just because you think you should. Instead, do what you truly enjoy :) Every year I spend endless hours doing things I think I’m supposed to do. But this year, I realized that it was okay to skip the Clemson-Carolina game..because honestly…I hate it. It’s okay to skip helping the old people decorate because I need to study for my final. It’s okay to stay home on Black Friday because you’re sick..and it’s okay to admit that sometimes..you just need “me” time. It’s okay to not accept dinner invitations with couples who’s PDA makes you sick…the list goes on…

2 – Plan ways to mix, mingle & jingle with other singles. If you’re hanging out with people in the same boat as you the sea isn’t quite so rough :) So this year, I’ve invited a bunch of my single girls out for “dress up” dinner. Because I think it’s a shame we only get dressed up to go on dates. (Plus there’s about 20 dresses between us dying for a night out.)

3 – Pay It Forward or Back :) “Make a gratitude list of all the great things that are in your life right now,” notes Diana Kirschner, psychologist, love coach and author of Opening Love’s Door: The Seven Lessons. “Make a payback visit where you go to someone who helped you a lot and give them a thank you gift. Research shows that these steps help create happiness.” I love to take something that someone has once done for me and do it for someone else. Whether it’s buying the coffee for the person behind me in the Starbucks drive-through or surprising my best friend with Starbucks at work :) anything can be a blessing to someone else. (BTW..We’re a bit nutty about Starbucks!)

4 – Reconnect with friends and family. Pick one friend you haven’t gotten to spend some time with lately and do something.  One of my friends has been MIA since her boy got back in town after graduating from basic training. The other weekend (on a drill weekend so she had no excuses because he was away!) her mom and I came up with a game plan. We called her up and we ran to the beach for a day of shopping :) It was a ton of fun to just spend the day with her shopping and catch up.

5 – Do something good for others to give your self-esteem an extra boost. Volunteer during the holidays at places where people worse off than yourself need you the most, such as a nursing home, soup kitchen or animal shelter.

“It’s a great way to counterbalance any blue feelings you may have,” says Steve Kemble, star of the Style Network’s Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?

This year I’m headed up to the Operation Christmas Child Warehouse center to help pack shoe boxes. There is nothing like seeing 100’s upon 100’s of boxes going to children around the work to kick your holiday blues in zee bootie.

6 – Give yourself the gift of a much-needed holiday vacation. I am horrible about not taking enough time off. BUT NOT THIS YEAR! I’m leaving Christmas day to hit up the mountains and in January I have a date with the lovely city of Nashville :)

7 – Blues…equal lbs… I am guilty of food association. I associate chocolate and ice cream with being depressed. Fries and soda with frustration. Cracker jacks with loneliness. Chocolate chip cookies with weight issues. Little Debbie Christmas Cakes with Christmas blues. See the problem? But not this year. This year I’ve resolved to not go more than 3 days without working out. When we work out we truly make our bodies happy (thanks endorphins!).

8 – Clear the clutter in your heart and mind by cleaning out your home. I’ve spent this past week really looking at my “stuff”. It saddened me to see how much “stuff” I’ve accumulated. So…I found a local girls homes and set about going through my closet. Sadly there were several items with tags still on them that had never been worn. I put all of it together and delivered it. It’s amazing to know that something so small as dropping off some clothes made some teenage girls so happy. The rest of the clutter I donated to a Thrift Shop who supports a local battered women’s shelter. (PS: If you typically give your donations to the Goodwill please do some research and see how un-goodwilly they truly are.)

I decided to clear some “mind” clutter too. I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my contacts. I noticed there were a few bad boys hanging around in there. So delete contact, delete contact, delete contact it went. There were some leeches and users too so out they went. No time for life sucking beings in my life.

9 – List the things you LOVE about yourself :) It is difficult for me to do this sometimes..but here goes..I love that I know how to do a million random things..I love that I don’t have to be “in a relationship” to be satisfied with my life…I love that I am super-duper crafty..I love that I can cook like a beauty and eat like a beast…I love that I can sing…I love that I have one random gray hair right smack in the center of the top of my head…I love being the unique person that is me.

10 – Give in to those guilty pleasures :) There were a lot of things I missed out on while dating my previous boyfriend simply because he didn’t want to. By the way girls..that’s the LAMEST reason to not do stuff ever! So since we broke up, I’ve gone to every art gallery opening, musical, opera, play and ballet I wanted too. I’ve listened to my 80’s music, blasted Shania Twain and generally not given a toot about whether or not my car has reindeer antlers on it in October :) So do what you want to do :) Catch up on those chick flicks, soaps, have a Pride and Prejudice/Emma/Sense & Sensibility marathon. Eat that piece of chocolate cake, buy that pocketbook and love being you!

That’s how I’m going to beat these holiday blues :)

What about you? What blue gets you?

XoXo!

One Antler’d Up Lemon

For More Holiday Blues Encouragement :)